Fantastic Four Vol 1 15
Returning to the Baxter Building, each member of the Fantastic Four express their desires to seek out these other opportunities and agree to disband for a short period to see if this is what they truly want. As it turns out these events were orchestrated by the Mad Thinker, and after a meteor strikes the Earth disabling the Baxter Building's security systems, he and the mobsters take over the Fantastic Four's abandoned headquarters. Meanwhile, each member of the Fantastic Four finds their new careers fulfilling compared to their lives as super-heroes. They all decide to return home and are shocked to find the Baxter Building surrounded by crystal. The Thinker then projects a hologram of himself daring the Fantastic Four to face him in their own headquarters. The foursome easily breaks through the crystal barrier and defeat the mobsters armed with Reed's own weapons. They next battled the so-called Awesome Android, an android created by the Mad Thinker based on Reed's own research. They are able to defeat the creature when Reed points out its single weakness. The Mad Thinker then faces the Fantastic Four alone, but suddenly finds none of the devices in Reed's lab work any longer and is quickly subdued. Reed then reveals that the Mad Thinker was foiled thanks to a contingency plan that he could not have foretold: Before leaving the Baxter Building to take his job at General Electronics, Reed hired their mailman Willie Lumpkin to press a button outside their headquarters every day that would temporarily deactivate all the devices within. With the Mad Thinker's plot ruined, the Fantastic Four turn the criminal mastermind over to the authorities. | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * Antagonists: * * * Various gangsters ** Other Characters: * * * ** ** * Pierre * Peggy * ** Van Dorn ** Cartwright ** Roger * Higgens * * Races and Species: * * Locations: * ** *** **** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ** *** Bones 'n Bailey Circus ** *** General Electronics ** *** Items: * * Vibra-Guns | Notes = Continuity Notes | Trivia = *The Thing formally took up a wrestling career in ''Thing'' #28, when he joined the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. * This issue also features a "Fantastic Four Pin-up Page" signed by Stan and Jack. * This issue features a letters page, Fantastic Four Fan Page. Letters are published from Mary Hoffman, Ronn Goff, Reynolds M. Morris, Michael "Mickey" Martin, Fred Gibbons, Ginger Church, Roger Mann, Ricky Phillips, Roy Thomas, Bob Kennedy, and Jerry Smith. * Concerning the published letter by Roy Thomas: Stan Lee ironically responds to this letter (which was rather long) with "it's a good thing we don't pay you by the word!" Lee would later hire Thomas as both a writer and EIC at Marvel Comics. * Also in his letter, Roy Thomas mentions that he would like to have head masts of each of the Fantastic Four on the cover, with two heads on each side of their distinctive, "Fantastic Four" centered logo. As writer and editor, Thomas will later make this happen in Fantastic Four Vol 1 160. | Recommended = | Links = }}